Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Digital Monocle]

Josh Sawyer confirms and explains: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60...ur-23m-stretch-goal/page__st__40#entry1210571

If you are turning on Expert Mode at the beginning of the game, you're permanently (for that game) setting all dials to 11. You don't need to do that, though. If you start a normal game, you can manually turn on/off the options of Expert Mode that you enjoy at any point in the game. If you want combat to be standard but you prefer having companion influence messages turned off, you can just select that feature (and/or other story/dialogue-based elements).

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60...ur-23m-stretch-goal/page__st__60#entry1210624

When we talk about adding races, we mean as races that can be played as the main PC.

It looks like Sawyer is a complete bro in regards with Expert Mode.

 

[DraQ]

"Wizards. Why do they wear dressing gowns and dunce caps?" http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60690-wizards-why-do-the-wear-dressing-gowns-and-dunce-caps/

Because they are Fucking Awesome (TM), obviously

Actually wizards in armour should be a definite possibilty. Ideally you should have less combative, more cunning types with more or less travel gear when travelling, and usual robes when not, and armoured wizards when intending to fight a lot.

One thing typical to an adventuring wizard when venturing into some dungeon or other place (or in general when deprived of hired hands and backs) should be a lot of pouches, pockets, scroll tubes and whatnot. If you carry a bunch of potentially unstable magical items, scrolls of power, a fuckload of various ingredients and elixirs half of which reacts violently with the other half and some rather heavy tomes and equipment, then the last thing you want is some flask cracking and spilling its contents (hopefully not also corrosive or very poisonous) not only over whatever it's carried in and possibly you/your clothing/armour, but also over other magical stuff, possibly starting some chain reaction, or even just destroying some priceless one-of-a-kind tome. You'd therefore do wise keeping your stuff partitioned and well separated.

Apart from weapon and armour your typical adventuring wizard would carry much more crap than warrior, while also being physically weaker - this should factor in when choosing gear.

 

[Darth Roxor]

"Wizards. Why do they wear dressing gowns and dunce caps?" http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60690-wizards-why-do-the-wear-dressing-gowns-and-dunce-caps/

They kinda have a point. Spellcasters with a la NWN series dress + helmet combinations are eyesores. I'd much rather have KotC wizards than that.

You gotta be kidding.

This shit was pimpin'

 

[Utgard-Loki]

and that's the only robe variation that doesn't look awful. and even then: green? seriously?

i wish ammon jerros robes were playable. those were pretty pimp.

and btw, is that the "neutral" archmage robe?

 

[Darth Roxor]

and that's the only robe variation that doesn't look awful. and even then: green? seriously?

i wish ammon jerros robes were playable. those were pretty pimp.

and btw, is that the "neutral" archmage robe?

Bro, I have no idea, I've taken this screenshot like 3 years ago

 

[Murk]

Sand's Robes looked fine. So did that one Luskan skank.

Robes are lined with pockets and pouches, sounds like a great storage device for all manner of foci and scroll, and maybe a bump of some brocaine or two as well.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I refuse to play an rpg where I can't pimp my mages

 

[oldmanpaco]

Heart of Fury mode... You mean the one they had immense stat-bloat on fucking goblins so you had to kite them in full plate magical armour? Yeah, that's sounds promising. Wake me up when they add extra layers of tactics, and improved AI.

The rest sounds ok, I guess.

Who is to say it isn't what they'll be doing?

I don't see them doing that frankly. That would require fundamentally different encounter design - and with resources spread so thin I feel this is beyond their reach. So it will be stat-bloat, I guess.

I like what they promise, but I don't see the way they can fulfill their promises with so limited time and money ($2.0 millon is not a lot).

Didn't he specifically say that the encounters would be different in the HoF mode? He didn't mention stats once.

If you come into an area on Easy, maybe casters are replaced with weak melee enemies. If you come in on Hard, maybe the casters are augmented by a tough melee enemy or two. With Path of the Damned, that goes out the window. All enemies from all levels of difficulty are enabled and the combat mechanics are amplified to make battles much more brutal for everyone involved.

The line about combat mechanics is ambiguous though.

 

[Infinitron]

The original pimp

 

[Johannes]

"Wizards. Why do they wear dressing gowns and dunce caps?" http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60690-wizards-why-do-the-wear-dressing-gowns-and-dunce-caps/

Because they are Fucking Awesome (TM), obviously

Actually wizards in armour should be a definite possibilty. Ideally you should have less combative, more cunning types with more or less travel gear when travelling, and usual robes when not, and armoured wizards when intending to fight a lot.

One thing typical to an adventuring wizard when venturing into some dungeon or other place (or in general when deprived of hired hands and backs) should be a lot of pouches, pockets, scroll tubes and whatnot. If you carry a bunch of potentially unstable magical items, scrolls of power, a fuckload of various ingredients and elixirs half of which reacts violently with the other half and some rather heavy tomes and equipment, then the last thing you want is some flask cracking and spilling its contents (hopefully not also corrosive or very poisonous) not only over whatever it's carried in and possibly you/your clothing/armour, but also over other magical stuff, possibly starting some chain reaction, or even just destroying some priceless one-of-a-kind tome. You'd therefore do wise keeping your stuff partitioned and well separated.

Apart from weapon and armour your typical adventuring wizard would carry much more crap than warrior, while also being physically weaker - this should factor in when choosing gear.

Actually carrying all that stuff in just pouches and pockets sounds pretty risky too. Not just if they get hit in combat (that shit hurts in any case) but if you have to climb, fall over (due to a trap or whatever), and so on, you always risk losing stuff. A sturdy backpack sounds a lot better, padded so that things won't break when dropped a moderate distance.

Btw, are there any other RPGs apart from roguelikes which prominently feature item destruction?

 

[DraQ]

"Wizards. Why do they wear dressing gowns and dunce caps?" http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60690-wizards-why-do-the-wear-dressing-gowns-and-dunce-caps/

Because they are Fucking Awesome (TM), obviously

Actually wizards in armour should be a definite possibilty. Ideally you should have less combative, more cunning types with more or less travel gear when travelling, and usual robes when not, and armoured wizards when intending to fight a lot.

One thing typical to an adventuring wizard when venturing into some dungeon or other place (or in general when deprived of hired hands and backs) should be a lot of pouches, pockets, scroll tubes and whatnot. If you carry a bunch of potentially unstable magical items, scrolls of power, a fuckload of various ingredients and elixirs half of which reacts violently with the other half and some rather heavy tomes and equipment, then the last thing you want is some flask cracking and spilling its contents (hopefully not also corrosive or very poisonous) not only over whatever it's carried in and possibly you/your clothing/armour, but also over other magical stuff, possibly starting some chain reaction, or even just destroying some priceless one-of-a-kind tome. You'd therefore do wise keeping your stuff partitioned and well separated.

Apart from weapon and armour your typical adventuring wizard would carry much more crap than warrior, while also being physically weaker - this should factor in when choosing gear.

Actually carrying all that stuff in just pouches and pockets sounds pretty risky too. Not just if they get hit in combat (that shit hurts in any case) but if you have to climb, fall over (due to a trap or whatever), and so on, you always risk losing stuff. A sturdy backpack sounds a lot better, padded so that things won't break when dropped a moderate distance.

A sturdy backpack isn't easily accessible if you need particular scroll, ingredient or flask right now for casting. And unless it's compartmentalized (in which case you won't be able to use it for larger stuff you can't just stuff into pouch somewhere) it doesn't protect items from bumping into each other.

Seriously, a typical adventuring wizard that can't use a porter for whatever reason (like exploring some ancient ruins of a nasty cult of particularly malevolent religion where no sane person is willing to enter regardless of pay) would probably look like a pack mule just carrying the essential stuff.

 

[IDtenT]

Why the hell would you hide information in "Expert mode"?

Yeah. I mean, I'm cool with hiding modifiers, but what does hiding "skill threshold" mean? I'm just hoping it's not some silly shit like disabling tooltips - which would be retarded.

 

[Murk]

Arcanum, FF: Tactics, and other "durability" situations (Morrowind) come to mind.

Do you mean item destruction as an actual course of action? I. E., skills that target armor or weapon divesting?

 

[Surf Solar]

Jagged Alliance 2 comes to my mind which did that system perfect IMO.

 

[Jasede]

I believe I can explain that.

Showing Skill Threshold:
[Bluff 30:] Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

vs.

Hiding Skill Threshold:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

 

[Darth Roxor]

You are less likely to be hit in your backpack than in the front pocket of your coat, though, and getting hit right in that funny volatile concoction that tends to explode on impact would produce an effect similar to a cannonball dropping right into a battleship's ammo compartment.

 

[Surf Solar]

Why the hell would you hide information in "Expert mode"?

Yeah. I mean, I'm cool with hiding modifiers, but what does hiding "skill threshold" mean? I'm just hoping it's not some silly shit like disabling tooltips - which would be retarded.

Instead of "Outdoorsman 60/80" where 60 is the skill the player has and 80 the needed skill to pass the check, the dialogue line with the check would display without this "Outdoorsman 60/80"

Ninjaed

 

[Infinitron]

I believe I can explain that.

Showing Skill Threshold:
[Bluff 30:] Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

vs.

Hiding Skill Threshold:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

No, it's more like

If Expert Mode is on then:

If you have Bluff >= 30:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

If you don't:
<nothing>

 

[Excidium]

You are less likely to be hit in your backpack than in the front pocket of your coat, though, and getting hit right in that funny volatile concoction that tends to explode on impact would produce an effect similar to a cannonball dropping right into a battleship's ammo compartment.

We're talking about CRPGs here, the only reason you have a back is for rogues to deal extra damage

 

[Crooked Bee]

Btw, are there any other RPGs apart from roguelikes which prominently feature item destruction?

Wizardry IV and some Japanese Wizardry spin-offs like Generation XTH have a lot of items that have a chance of being destroyed when "invoked" (= when activating their special effect or property). A pretty prominent feature, but probably not the kind of item destruction you had in mind when asking your question.

 

[Infinitron]

Didn't items in containers break if you forced them open in KOTOR?

 

[DraQ]

You are less likely to be hit in your backpack than in the front pocket of your coat, though, and getting hit right in that funny volatile concoction that tends to explode on impact would produce an effect similar to a cannonball dropping right into a battleship's ammo compartment.

Decisions, decisions.

We're talking about CRPGs here, the only reason you have a back is for rogues to deal extra damage

*rogue stabs wizard in the back hitting volatile potion and starting chain reaction*
*people flee villages in 5 mile radius convinced they are witnessing birth of a volcano*

 

[IDtenT]

I believe I can explain that.

Showing Skill Threshold:
[Bluff 30:] Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

vs.

Hiding Skill Threshold:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

No, it's more like

If Expert Mode is on then:

If you have Bluff >= 30:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

If you don't:
<nothing>

Much better.

 

[Ion Prothon II]

Didn't items in containers break if you forced them open in KOTOR?

And in both NWNs. Not like it was any big loss. IRC it was an exceptional fail: there was only junk in the containers, while the occasional magic items were indestructable. What's the point of destructable items, if it's just worthless junk?

 

[tuluse]

I believe I can explain that.

Showing Skill Threshold:
[Bluff 30:] Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

vs.

Hiding Skill Threshold:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

No, it's more like

If Expert Mode is on then:

If you have Bluff >= 30:
Lie: "I am the health inspector!"

If you don't:
<nothing>

I think it would still show the skill check so you can fail it. Like AoD.